The Snow Queen
by Lt. Noin
Summary: A rewrite of "The Snow Queen," with Noin as Greta and Zechs as Kay. A young girl tries to win back all she loves from the Snow Queen.


The Snow Queen  
By Lt. Noin (imnutz@hotmail.com)  
  
Status: complete  
Category: romance, AU, fairy tale rewrite  
Spoilers: none  
Season: none  
Rating: G  
Content Warnings: none.   
Summary: A rewrite of "The Snow Queen" with Noin as Gerda   
and Zechs as Kay. It can be read as a sort of companion   
piece to my At the Last.  
Disclaimer: the people aren't mine, the show isn't mine,   
the original storyline isn't mine; nothing here is mine   
but the prose. Be nice and don't sue?  
Author's Notes: Please just ask me for permission if you   
want to archive this? I'm usually very nice about this; I   
just like knowing where my stuff is. Other fics of mine   
can be found at http://www.geocities.com/tmtestosterone   
in the library. And C&C is always greatly appreciated!!   
^_^ Also, the version of "The Snow Queen" (Hans Christian   
Anderson's) that I read as a kid and vaguely remembered   
while I wrote this is at http://hca.gilead.org.il/snow_que.html.   
Thanks to Eddie for finding it!  
==========================================================  
  
In a land that had known naught but peace for centuries on   
end, there lived a girl and her best friend in all the   
world. And though he was a prince and she of a family that   
worked the land, they had each grown up knowing the   
other's secrets as their own. Some swore that they could   
not tell where the prince began and the girl ended, though   
he was as bright as summer's joy and she as dark as the   
starry night's calm.   
  
As the prince came of age, he was taken away from the girl   
at odd hours to learn the deep secrets of statecraft. And   
the girl grew lonely in their times apart, but the prince   
would always return to her, his face a beacon as he spoke   
to her of how great his father was to manufacture such an   
ever-lasting peace. It was the joy of the country, he told   
her, and he wanted to keep that piece of sunlight in their   
hearts even in the bitterest days of winter. For that   
peace was what made their land the summer land through all   
seasons. And she would tell him of her own dreams of the   
stars, and their joys were greater for the sharing. They   
shared and dreamt wherever they could, but there were some   
dreams too deep and too precious to be overheard by   
anything, save the roses.  
  
The prince and the girl had planted the garden in a time   
before their memories had coalesced from the mists of   
dreams, but still, they had done so with only the help of   
their own clumsy fingers. They fed the roses with laughter   
and watered them with their childhood sorrows, and the   
roses that grew were imbued with their most secret of   
hearts. There were roses of milky white, of thickest   
cream, and of golden butter. There were roses of delicate   
spring green, roses the color of a maiden's first blush,   
and even a few roses the color of the girl's night-dark   
hair. But though the girl loved the garden above all her   
possessions, she felt an absence in it, and the lack   
pierced her heart.   
  
They were in the garden when the Snow Queen's mirror   
broke, for their roses bloomed even in the deathly chill   
of winter. And when the girl heard the glass shatter, she   
was afraid.  
  
"Let's go inside," she urged the prince, although they   
still had secrets to share. "The Snow Queen's mirror has   
broken, and if we are not careful, a shard may pierce us   
in the eye and worm its way to our heart. And then, it   
will take away all that is beautiful."  
  
"No," said the prince. "Why are you afraid of the old   
fairy stories? This is my father's kingdom, and peace has   
reigned here through many winters. Besides, perhaps the   
Snow Queen herself is beautiful, and her mirror will   
reflect that."  
  
But, the girl thought, her winter, bright though it may   
be, is a season of death, except for the roses and the   
summer in the people's hearts. Still, she stayed with the   
prince, though the sweetness in their shared secrets was   
suddenly tinged with bitterness.   
  
The prince had felt a sharpness in his eye when he heard   
the mirror crack, but for fear and for curiosity, he did   
not tell the girl. Thus, when they met in the garden again   
the next day, he sneered at their roses.  
  
"How can you care for them so?" he asked the girl. "Look   
at them. They are ugly and worm-eaten."  
  
"But," she replied, "even if it were so, we planted them   
together and gave all our secrets to them for safe   
keeping."  
  
The prince laughed, and the girl shivered, the warmth of   
the garden evaporating.   
  
"Not so. For I have kept a secret to myself. I am the Snow   
Queen's warrior and consort, and you are nothing in her   
brilliance."  
  
With those words, he left on a chill wind for the Snow   
Queen's palace, to return what was rightfully hers.   
  
In terror and alarm, the girl turned to their roses for   
comfort, only to see the roses wither as she laid eye on   
them, their dying petals falling to the ground in a   
whirlwind of color.  
  
***  
  
It was winter, and there was nothing alive, not even the   
roses. The girl was sitting in the garden, sifting through   
the faded petals, when the king of the land came for her.   
  
"Where is my son?" he asked her, for all in the land knew   
the two were as inseparable as sun and shadow.  
  
"He has gone to the Snow Queen, for a shard of her mirror   
is trapped in his heart," she said, and the king despaired.   
  
"He is my son, and the land is in need of him, for he   
embodies the summer in the people's hearts," the king said.  
  
"Then I shall bring him back to you," the girl said as she   
shook off the dead petals, "and I hope I shall be enough."  
  
"But the Snow Queen's palace lies above the stars and   
below the earth," said the king of the land.  
  
"I shall find him," the girl promised.  
  
  
She was given sturdy boots made of the finest leather, a   
thick coat made of the warmest furs, and a sack filled   
with food for her journey. And with her, she took a   
handful of dried rose petals, to remind herself of the   
summer. She walked north where the frost winds whistled,   
and she walked for days and days, until the wind stole her   
very breath and dulled her memory. But always, it would   
carry the faint scent of roses, and she would remember her   
purpose and journey on. When at last she could walk no   
further, she came across a reindeer lying in the snow.  
  
"Reindeer," the girl said, "do you know where the Snow   
Queen's palace lies?"  
  
"Why must you know?" asked the reindeer. "The Snow Queen   
would freeze your limbs and numb your body."  
  
"The prince of my land is there," she replied, "and my   
country is in need of him."  
  
"Ah," said the reindeer. "I do not know, but perhaps the   
polar bear will."  
  
"I thank you," said the girl, and she gave the reindeer   
her leather boots, for she saw his hooves were worn from   
outrunning hunters.   
  
She trekked further, with only the rose petals for   
comfort, until she could again go no more. And there, at   
her feet, lay a great polar bear on his side, shivering.  
  
"Polar bear," asked the girl, "can you tell me where the   
Snow Queen lives?"  
  
"Why?" asked the polar bear gruffly. "She would only turn   
your warm blood cold if you approached."  
  
"Please," she said, "the son of my king is there, and my   
king is in need of him."  
  
"I see. I am sorry, then, for I do not know. But the Old   
Lady may."  
  
"I thank you," said the girl, and she laid her fur coat   
on the bear, for she saw his own was thin against the ice.  
  
She walked further than she thought she could, and when   
she finally ran out of strength, the scent of rose petals   
brought back the summer and gave her enough warmth to go   
forward. Finally, beyond all the boundaries of the earth,   
she came across a small shack in the snow. She knocked on   
the door and was greeted by a woman who looked older than   
even Father Time, who was as old as birth of the world.  
  
"Grandmother," the girl asked, "can you show me the way to   
the Snow Queen's land?"  
  
"Why for, dear heart?" the old lady asked. "The Snow Queen   
will chill your heart until there is no love left and turn   
it into an icy dead thing."  
  
"Perhaps so," said the girl with a mouthful of fear, but   
she went on, knowing the old lady would accept naught but   
the true reason for her long journey, "but she holds my   
best friend in all the world there, and I am desperate to   
have him by my side again."  
  
"Well spoken, child. I will show you the land that lies   
above the stars and below the earth, but the journey is   
long and hard, and you must win your friend back without   
my help."  
  
"I thank you, Grandmother," said the girl as she left her   
sack of food in the shack, for she could see that the   
pantries were bare and the shelves were unstocked.   
  
But her knees shook when she turned back. The shack had   
disappeared, and with it, the old lady she now knew to be   
Grandmother Death. Despite her fear, she walked on, past   
even the boundaries of the eternal, until she stumbled   
across a hole in the ground. Remembering the whispered   
words of Grandmother Death, she climbed into the hole and   
fell into an underground cavern that sparkled with the   
light of hidden gems. She continued to walk, ignoring the   
precious stones in her path and the silvery ores at her   
sides. At last, she stopped before a magnificent palace   
carved entirely of ice. It glittered and sparkled in the   
captive light of the gemstones, and it shone with the   
reflected glow of the cavern's metals. It was grander than   
anything the girl had ever imagined, and in front of it   
was a lake that reflected its lights and looked as though   
all the stars in the sky had been drowned within.   
Together, the lake and the palace lit up the dark cavern   
with an otherworldly brilliance, and the girl wondered how   
anyone could say that the Snow Queen left only ugliness in   
her wake. The girl stood still in awe, unaware of the   
numbness in her fingers or the sluggish flow of her blood.   
For the briefest moment, the wisp of a golden day in a   
garden shone through the ice, only to be buried once more   
by the relentless cold. But it was enough to make her   
remember the beauty of the roses, and to her, their warm   
glow was more beautiful than anything the Snow Queen could   
ever make. So the girl awoke and found the prince in front   
of her, staring at her handful of dried petals.   
  
"Who are you?" he asked. "You are not welcome here. Why do   
you bar my way to the Snow Queen's palace?"  
  
The girl looked at him in shock, for a silver mask covered   
his face, and his hair, rather then being the color of   
sunlight through a windowpane, was the empty shade of ice,   
and his eyes, once summer-sky bright, were a frosty,   
lifeless blue.   
  
"Don't you know me?" she asked. "You don't belong here.   
You are the prince of the land. Your people need you. Your   
father the king wants you back. And I -- I cannot live   
without you."  
  
He looked past her, toward the palace, as he said, "I am   
the Snow Queen's consort and no man's son. And as the heat   
of war keeps me alive, I have need of no one. Not even   
you."  
  
Cut to the core by his betrayal, she felt the threadbare   
hope that had kept her alive tear apart, and she collapsed   
at his feet, too shattered to stand.   
  
"How could you have forgotten?" the girl keened, partly to   
herself. "How could you have forsaken your dreams so   
easily?"  
  
But she dared not ask how he could have forgotten their   
roses, for fear he might answer and crush the remainder of   
her heart.   
  
And in a voice even colder than his eyes, he told her to   
move aside, or he would command the frost winds to cut her   
down where she lay.   
  
But she refused, and she watched in silent horror as he   
prepared to call the frost winds of the north, unable to   
believe that even now he could raise a hand against what   
they once had.   
  
Still he continued.  
  
In desperation and in sick despair, she threw the petals   
at him, for without hope of him, they were useless to her,   
and she cared not what might happen to her.  
  
As they engulfed him, their scent filled the air, reviving   
memories he thought were long dead. His spell stopped, and   
the silver mask cracked to reveal eyes wet with regret and   
shame. The girl, not yet daring to hope, reached   
cautiously for him and held him as the melting of the ice   
washed away the shard lodged in his heart.  
  
"I remember," he whispered to the girl. "I remember."  
  
Against the snow, the petals were as red as the heart's   
deepest blood.  
  
With that, the Snow Queen knew she had lost her consort,   
and her anger swelled within her, fierce as a storm in the   
dead of winter. But before she could lift a hand against   
the two, Grandmother Death barred her way.  
  
"Go," she said to the girl. "Your loving heart has won you   
a way back to your homeland."  
  
The girl turned to find the polar bear and the reindeer   
waiting behind her, and she and the prince mounted the two   
as the Snow Queen screamed her rage to the winds. That   
day, as the two flew swiftly away, the world wondered at   
the malicious voice in the cold north wind.  
  
They soon escaped the icy clutches of the Snow Queen's   
country and were met with great festivity in their own   
land. And even though she was pleased in her most secret   
of hearts, the girl nearly fled when she found all the   
celebration was in honor of her deed. For she had returned   
summer to the land, and its people were grateful.  
  
However, even in the midst of all the people, the prince   
and the girl managed to slip away in the twilight when day   
embraces night. They stole into their rose garden, for   
each had a secret singing in the heart that longed to be   
shared with the other. Upon entering, they looked at each   
other and rejoiced. The roses that had died were reborn,   
more glorious and more fragrant than ever before. And the   
girl felt a strange peace in her heart, for the absence   
that had hurt her so before was now gone, and in its place   
was a thing more beautiful than even the Snow Queen's   
palace had been.  
  
A crimson cluster of roses grew in the very heart of the   
garden, and the girl and the prince walked toward it of   
one accord, knowing that only these roses could possibly   
endure a secret as sweet as the ones beating against their   
hearts.  
  
"I thank you," said the prince as he knelt at her feet and   
kissed her hand, "for giving my people back the summer.   
But I thank you most for returning it to me."  
  
"No," said the girl with a gentle smile as she knelt down   
beside him. "I did nothing, for you are the summer. And -- "  
  
She broke off and shyly looked down, afraid that if she   
let her secret out of her heart, it would lose its value   
and be mocked.   
  
"And?" asked the prince, for he too was afraid, afraid   
that the Snow Queen's shard had tainted him so that the   
girl would not tell him the secrets of her heart.  
  
"And," she continued in a voice barely above a whisper,   
sensing his fear and overcoming her own, "I love you."  
  
He touched her night-dark hair, smiling. "And I you," he   
said, giving his own secret away as he kissed her beneath   
the red, red roses.   
  
The End 


End file.
